Page 63 - July 2022 ATM Special Issue 608

á``MÉ```«`°S

Ashraf Saleh Priyanka Kapoor

(Cluster Hotel Manager BM Hotels & Resorts): (Senior Regional Director of Sales & Marketing EMEA & India
and Group Director Sales, Marketing, Branding and Communi-
cations Swiss – Belhotel International):
The future will be quick decision
making and adapting to the new We did above 90 percent occupancy
trends of traveling on all our hotels in the Middle East
riyanka Kapoor, Group
M Hotels & Resorts is a
PDirector & Senior Regional
Bgrowing chain of hotels in
Director of Sales & Marketing
the Gulf region. With three sea-
EMEA & India and Group
side experiences to choose from,
Director Sales, Marketing,
BM Hotels & Resorts is proud
Branding and Communications
to provide its guests with peer- at Swiss-Belhotel International,
less service, comfortable spaces, holds over 20 years of outstand-
extraordinary views, and ing experience in the
opportunities to explore. From Hospitality and Airlines indus-
a four-star hotel to a relaxing try working with leading
resort to luxury glamping, BM brands such as Hyatt Hotels
Hotels & Resorts have some- and Jet Airways. Currently at
thing for everyone. Ashraf Swiss-Belhotel International,
with a portfolio of 145 hotels
Saleh, Cluster Hotel Manager
and projects, she is responsible
at BM Hotels & Resorts is a
for sales, marketing and rev-
highly efficient and customer-
enue growth strategies at a Group level while managing the requirements of
oriented hotel manager with 15
EMEA & India more closely. In keeping with the market trends, Priyanka
years’ experience in 5 star luxury hotels, resorts and high end restaurants.
leads the team with innovative ideas while consolidating the company goals
He is an adept communicator with team leading and development skills and with the ever-changing market situations and expectations of clients and
a forward thinking multi-tasker who is able to analyze situations and costs owners. She is a Certified Revenue Management Executive (CRME)
and successfully determine profitable outcomes. through HSMAI and holds a diploma in Executive MBA in Global Ivy
Al Bayan Magazine met Saleh and below is the interview conducted. League curriculum, from Emeritus Institute, Singapore. Al Bayan
Magazine met Kapoor on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market and
“ 2019 was one of our best years ” following is the interview conducted.
• How do you evaluate the Arabian Travel Market for this year?
• What are your expectations for the travel sector in 2022? - Our participation in ATM has been since the passed ten years but this year
- In the last two years, there have been lots of change in travel with pre- we have made it bigger and better because we really believe that the tourism
pandemic and then the pandemic came in so recently in the UAE we saw is back on the market and even better than pre-covid times internationally and
not just for the Middle East. In this show, there are lots of people who are
the domestic travel and as a result we had to switch 100 percent towards there for many more countries than before. It used to be very Middle East
domestic travel after being focused 80 percent on international travel in centric in the past but now we are looking at a lot of international tourism from
our hotels & resorts. Thus, we had to quickly adapt and the international here. That is why in our stand we are showcasing many regions, we are
market, which we used to be depending on, is coming back but it is a very based out of 19 countries which are in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Middle
last-minute. People used to plan their vacations six month a year ahead East, Europe and Africa. With our presence, what we expect from the show
but now they plan their vacations at a day or two ahead. The future is is to let people know about our brand and our presence of 125 hotels and
resorts, and also for developers to understand that we are an upcoming brand
being quick decision making and adapting to the new trends of traveling. and if they would like to take our services, we are here to help them.
Therefore, ATM is the platform to the world in terms of tourism. It is the largest
• The travel and tourism sectors in the world are expecting a return show not just in our region but also internationally, it created a very big name
to pre-pandemic levels and to witness significant growth. What is for itself.
your comment? • What are your expectations for the travel sector in 2022?
- At the moment, trying to compare performance of October 2021 till April Concerning the travel sector in 2022, I think the pre-pandemic levels will be
2022, we are still recovering from the 2019. We might not have reached reached easily but we would even go far beyond that because during this
the figures of the 2019 or the numbers of the arrivals but we hope there period of two and a half years when there was a pandemic, people had eager-
will be more especially in Ras Al Khaimah where we have more hotel ly waited for the world to open up again and now that is open, I am sure that
groups opening, entertainment and potential gaming activities happening the pent-up demand will help us go much more further than the pre-pandem-
as well. So, Ras Al Khaimah will be overtaking at the Emirates in this ic levels, provided the rise in covid cases does not affect once again.
prospect as well. • How much was the occupancy rate in your hotel?
- Because we manage a lot of hotels in the region, and every GCC country
• How much was the occupancy rate in your hotel and what are your performed differently than the other, I would only talk about the month when
future plans? everything opened up to its fullest, i.e. month of March, where we managed
- From November 2021 till the end of March 2022, we have been per- to reach 90 percent on an average on all our hotels in the Middle East.
forming very well. We highly depended on Russian tourism but when the
war started between Russia and Ukraine, we had a little bit of a drop.
Concerning the Eid figures, we thought there will be more international
traveling compared to 2021 but we had still high numbers of domestic
travelers.
• What is the expected growth rate of your hotel for this year?
- I would not call it a growth because if you compare year on year, it will
be much higher, so it is not realistic because we were in a pandemic last
year but we are benchmarking us to 2019 which was one of our best
years. We are trying to benchmark ourselves in room numbers but rates
might fluctuate. ¢ùbôe ô«eCGh PRIY ANKA KA POOR :ø«ª«dG øe

63 AL BA Y AN ECONOMIC MAG - ISSUE 608 - JULY 2022